Adam Kassem holds up a mobile phone picture of his brother Kassem Kassem, who is amongst the missing. (Credit: L'Orient Today)
MINYEH, Lebanon — Fatima Mohamed counts hundreds of sleepless nights since she last heard the voice of Fouad, her eldest son. On Dec. 12, 2023, a wooden fishing boat carrying 85 people and bound for Cyprus disappeared at sea, hours after departing from Abdeh in northern Lebanon. The 85 people on board that day are counted among the nearly 4,000 migrants who attempted this treacherous route in 2023, according to UNHCR spokesperson Lisa Abou Khaled. Of the 65 boat journeys made that year, the vessel Fouad was on is the only one recorded missing. Fouad’s family, originally from Syria, didn’t want the 25-year-old to go. But after years in Lebanon, he was not able to find a stable job or sort out his legal status as a Syrian refugee. Racism against Syrians and Lebanon's ongoing crisis pushed him towards the sea.“We fled Syria because of the...
MINYEH, Lebanon — Fatima Mohamed counts hundreds of sleepless nights since she last heard the voice of Fouad, her eldest son. On Dec. 12, 2023, a wooden fishing boat carrying 85 people and bound for Cyprus disappeared at sea, hours after departing from Abdeh in northern Lebanon. The 85 people on board that day are counted among the nearly 4,000 migrants who attempted this treacherous route in 2023, according to UNHCR spokesperson Lisa Abou Khaled. Of the 65 boat journeys made that year, the vessel Fouad was on is the only one recorded missing. Fouad’s family, originally from Syria, didn’t want the 25-year-old to go. But after years in Lebanon, he was not able to find a stable job or sort out his legal status as a Syrian refugee. Racism against Syrians and Lebanon's ongoing crisis pushed him towards the sea.“We fled Syria...
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